PREMIUM FOR QUALITY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3783, 17 July 1936, Page 7

PREMIUM FOR QUALITY

SUCCESSFUL TRIAL BY DAIRY BOARD TEN YEARS AGO. BETTER TYPE OF PRODUCT. The action of the Government in fixing price margins for the different grades ot butter and cheese purchased by it for export recalls that the adoption of a similar principle ten years ago was followed by a phenomenal improvement in the quality ot dairy produce, particularly in regard to cheese. Under the Dairy Produce Control Board’s price fixation scheme of 1926-27 there was a fixed differential payment based on quality. When the board made an advance it paid a fixed price, but for finest cheese there was paid a premium ot Id a pound above the price paid for first grade, while second grade cheese was paid for at a price of id a pound below that for first. Similarly, finest grade butter received jd a pound above first and second grade was paid for at a price Id a pound below first. No real complaint was lodged against the 1926-27 scheme of differential payments, and it was generally agreed that the substantial advancement in quality that season was in the main the result ot the incentive of a fixed premium for finest grade. In fixing price margins now under its guaranteed prices plan for the dairy industry, the desire of the Government is to maintain and improve the quality of New Zealand butter and cheese.

An analysis ot the grading shows much variation in the percentage of finest and first grade butter and cheese graded at the ports of the Dominion. Of 5,384,761 boxes of butter graded at New Zealand ports durthe year ended July 31, 1935, 4,147,867 boxes were graded finest, 1,166,711 first, and 70,183 below first. The cheese graded that year totalled -1,281,292 crates, and of this number 263,894 crates were graded finest, 977,246 first, and 40,152 below first. Details of dairy produce graded at the various grading ports for the year ended July 31, 1935, are as follows: CREAMERY BUTTER.

Under Finest First first Port p.c. p.c. p.c. Auckland 73.30 25.05 1.64 Gisborne 85.85 14.06 0.08 Napier 88.11 11.82 0.06 N. Plymouth 91.75 8.23 0.01 Patea 48.83 50.10 L66 Wanganui 86.31 12.74 0.94 Wellington 86.83 13.11 0.05 Lyttelton and Timaru 80.60 17.19 2.20 Dunedin 64.88 28.39 6.72 Bluff 62.44 31.84 5.71 ——Il ■ —— ■ ii Totals 77.03 21.66 1.30 1 WHEY BUTTER. Under First. first p.c. p.c. Auckland 29.16 70.88 New Plymouth 98.01 1.98 Patea 97.55 2.44 Wanganui 97.99 2.00 Wellington 90.38 9.61 Dunedin — 100.00 1 Totals 78.53 21.46 CHEESE. Under Finest First first p.c. p.c. p.c. Auckland 7.67 85.76 6.56 Gisborne 6.26 84.76 8;97 Napier 30.79 65.06 4.14 New Plymouth 33.40 65.69 0.90 Patea 14.23 84.19 1:57 Wanganui 17.79 79.87 2.33 Wellington 23.39 73.81 2.79 Lyttelton and Timaru 36.83 62.16 1,00 Dunedin 21.39 77.51 1.09 Bluff 27.26 67.24 5.49 11 I II — —I..— Totals 20.59 76.27 3.13